The Space Between The Is And The Ought

In life, we often must deal with a yawning chasm between the is and the ought. The "is" refers to reality, unprettified, unvarnished. This may be referred to as "the real world." The ought refers to the world as it should be. The world is never as it should be, but it is the "ought" that keeps us from moral depravity on the one hand, or despair on the other. We need an understanding of what is to make sure we are living in the real world, and so that we can see things as they are. We need to know what ought to be so we can at least have something to aim and strive for, something above the morass and darkness that is the real world.

It is often difficult to find that balance between knowing what is and knowing what ought to be, and clearly facing what is without losing sight of what ought to be. It is all too easy to go to one extreme or the other. Most people choose to either immerse themselves in the real world, become overly cynical and behave in immoral and amoral ways (in order to get ahead) or they ignore reality, live in a fantasy world of hopes and dreams and illusions, and are crushed in those rare moments of lucidity when the reality breaks through the illusion. What is someone to do if they want to face reality bravely and squarely without being completely corrupted by it.

This problem between what is and what should be is a constant preoccupation of my writing, as well as that of many others. Political science, or the study of how to exercise power, is all about shortening the distance between the is and the ought. This can be done in one of two ways--by seeking to reform society, or by reducing the ideal to make it more realistic. Obviously, the first solution is the superior one, but it must be remembered that reformers are human to, and often need to have their own sins reformed.

So what is the end of all of this? I don't know, but humanity, and any organization made of humans (especially those wicked hierarchial ones) is going to have issues. The choice that human beings have when they are faced with their shortcomings is to either own up to them or to deny them (and seek to discredit those that bring them up). The character of someone is determined by which choice they make. There is distance in all of us (and plenty of distance in me) between what is and what should be. But how we deal with that distance speaks volumes about ourselves, for even if the world does not appreciate it, thankfully we have someone in heaven watching over us (even if that is far from pleasant at those many times we are doing what we ought not to do).